I bought my wife a little Sony for Christmas that we both love, unfortunately, they've changed models and I have no idea if the new ones are reviewed as well as this one was. Generally, I'm a Canon fan, too.

We've had a canon power shot sd550 for a couple of years now and are very happy with it. My wife used a newer Sony Cybershot as part of a graduate class and she liked the bells and whistles it had, but said she would buy a canon again when the time comes.

Sam, if you would go about $200 the Canon SD1200 IS would be a good choice. If you want to stay below budget the 1100 refurb , the preceding model, is a good buy(buy a memory card, probably locally, as well). Three day shipping could be selected.